Chronic disease is devastating America. There is no way to sugarcoat it, and certainly no reason.Ignoring root causes and offering limited solutions has caused disease to rise in staggering heights. These include heart disease, obesity, cancer, strokes, respiratory disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and kidney diseases.

Aside from personal hardships and tragedies, chronic illness poses a genuine risk to the economic stability of the United States. According to a recent report by Fitch Solutions Macro Research, total direct costs due to chronic diseases reached $1.1 trillion in 2016, and indirect costs were $3.7 trillion.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has concluded that if these problems are not effectively addressed now, they will only magnify.

Yet the focus of National Institutes of Health and The U.S. Department of Agriculture strongly suggests a better understanding of how nutrition can heal Americans isn’t a priority…not by a long shot. A recent article from Politico titled, How Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat states, “the federal government has devoted only a tiny fraction of its research dollars to nutrition…Studying the relationship between diet and health is such an afterthought that Washington doesn’t even bother tracking the total amount spent each year.“

After reviewing the federal budget documents, Politico found, “the National Institutes of Health and the Agriculture Department — the two agencies that fund the majority of government-backed nutrition science — share of research dollars devoted to nutrition has stayed largely flat for at least three decades, and pales in comparison to many other areas of research.“

Predatory Pharma outspends all other industries in lobbying. Meanwhile, there is no major lobbying force behind boosting nutritional research funding. America’s sick-care, pharmaceutical-product based ‘health’ paradigm appears rooted, driven, and amplified by the lobbying efforts of corporate interests.

These bottom-line profit-driven service-to-self types are happy to let accurate information about nutrition and the harms of their products die on the vine, to protect other industry cronies from implication.

Limited research efforts, despite their lack of funding, have advanced our understanding of links between a diet of ultra-processed foods and diseases. A recent editorial published in the journal Nature said:

“The tactics employed by companies to promote products like ultra-processed foods are multifaceted. They range from marketing of unhealthy products to children to virtue signaling through support of vaccine distribution, as Coca-Cola has done with the Global Fund, to the infiltration of government policymaking.“

The editorial calls for regulators to “consider who is given a seat at the table when it comes to developing guidelines and policies for health, and any potential conflicts of interest they might have.“The blame can’t fall upon the shoulders of one administration or President. Overall failure has continued across multiple administrations, signaling apparent disinterest in how nutrition can reverse disease and heal without the need for Big Pharma’s products.

Further compounding the problem, government and regulatory agencies appear to have fallen victim to the strategies from recognized brands of Fortune 500 ultra-processed food companies.

Doctors receive too little education on the health effects of proper nutrition or the ways to help patients make healthier food choices. Rather than consider the health benefits of a proper diet, the average American is stuck in a merry-go-round of pricey medical care, often doling out big bucks for controversial pharmaceutical products.

Scandals, unchecked product harms, unscientific one-size-fits-all solutions, ignoring the root cause of disease—they’ve led many to walk away from the modern medical paradigm.

“As a patient, I’ve caught doctors not knowing what they should know…they’ve been wrong about so much.” –Bill Maher

Where can the average person learn about the healing power of whole foods? Where can they learn about a healthy diet and the harms associated with modern medical interventions?

Alternative health practitioners and legacy alternative health outlets and websites have become the go-to resource for millions who seek to empower themselves. Many of these professionals have found themselves in their positions after seeing harms caused by industry-driven science.

Whole food nutrition can’t be patented. It can’t be monopolized and sold at inflated prices. Its curative properties with regard to modern disease are also a threat to the bottom line of many.

By ignoring the root cause of disease, Big Pharma has made legendary profits. Unfortunately, this is happening within a dangerously limited paradigm of masking symptoms and addiction. Such ignorance is methodically creating conditions for medical dependence (upon dangerous and inferior product lines, too, let’s note).

Chronic disease in America has now devolved into a big, big problem. On top of all of this, major social media outlets are increasingly censoring information that teaches and empowers people to seek differently, perhaps better, ways of healing. Chiropractic and homeopathic healing modalities have been under constant threat by both government and regulatory agencies.

But perhaps the most disturbing thing of all has been Google’s behind-the-scenes moves to kill alternative health information. YouTube has begun demonetizing channels who teach about nutrition and health paradigms.

Numerous popular alternative health websites have had their traffic decimated, with some like Mercola.com seeing a 99.9% drop in Google traffic. Amazon began digital book burning months ago with the excuse of going after the nebulous, poorly defined, and catch-all ‘misinformation.’ Yet the censorship operation then quickly extended into autism and cancer healing information.

America is at a pivotal crossroads. If government and industry continued along their current trajectory unchecked, what will the result be? ​Will Hippocrates and his message about the healing powers of food soon be a conspiracy theory?Will seeking proper nutrition information be considered misinformation? Will the desire for clean food, no environmental toxins, and chemicals, one day put you among the conspiracy theory crowd?​Rather than waiting for the government to teach you, realize censorship is happening now. It’s real. It’s increasing. Support your favorite outlets by subscribing to, sharing, or financially contributing to their efforts.